Home appliance



July 9, 1963 Filed Oct. 20, 1961 1.. ca. BECKETT ETAL 3,096,628

HOME APPLIANCE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 152067575715, I60 62 fie c/refiJibZerZiE'Zarzdezzaa%mzc/Z July 9, 1963 L. G. BECKETT ETAL 3,09

' HOME APPLIANCE y 1963 L. e. BECKETT ETAL 3,

HOME APPLIANCE Filed Oct. 20, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 United States Patent3,096,628 HOME APPLIANCE Leo G. Beckett, Henderson, Ky., and Robert E.Lindensclnnidt, Evansville, Ind., assignors to Whirlpool Corporation, acorporation of Delaware Filed Oct. 20, 1961, Ser. No. 146,552 7 Claims.(Cl. 62-265) This invention relates to refrigeration apparatus and inparticular to cold shelf means for use in a refrigerator. In one form ofmodern frost-free type refrigerator, refrigerated air is circulated todifferent portions of the refrigerated space by means of suitable duots.An improved form of shelf has been developed for use in suchrefrigerators wherein a portion of the refrigerated air is passedthrough the hollow interior of the shelf to provide a quick chilling ofobjects placed on the shelf and from the shelf directly into therefrigerated space and compartments defined by the refrigerator door forquick chilling of foodstuffs and the like placed therein. The knownhollow shelf structures, however, have had the disadvantage of fixedinstallation within the refrigerator thereby limiting the adaptabilityof the refrigerated space for holding different sized objects andreducing the efficiency of space utilization in general. The presentinvention comprehends a 'cold shelf structure providing the desirablefeatures of the known cold shelf structures while effectivelyeliminating the discussed disadvantages thereof.

Thus, a principal feature of the present invention is the provisions ofa new and improved cold shelf refrigeration apparatus.

Another feature of the invention is the provision of such arefrigeration apparatus arranged for selective positioning of the coldshelf in any one of a plurality of different positions.

A further feature of the invention is the provision of such arefrigeration apparatus wherein the cold shelf is provided with meansfor facilitated connection to a refrigerated air supply at any one of aplurality of different portions thereof.

Still another feature of the invention is the provision of suchrefrigeration apparatus wherein the selective positioning of the coldshelf is co-ordinated with the selected positioning of adjustable shelfmeans carried by a portion of the refrigerator enclosure.

A yet further feature of the invention is the provision of suchrefrigeration apparatus wherein the hollow cold shelf is provided with afirst portion defining an inlet, and a second portion defining anoutlet, the refrigeration apparatus includes a wall defining a flowpassage for refrigerated air, and means are provided in the walldefining a plurality of normally closed openings for selectivelyreceiving the inlet portion of the cold shelfv "Other features andadvantages of the invention will be apparent from the followingdescription taken in connection with the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevation of a refrigerator provided with cold shelfapparatus embodying the invention;-

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary, enlarged vertical section thereof takensubstantially along the line 22 of FIG- URE 3;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary, enlarged vertical section 3,096,628 PatentedJuly 9, 1963 thereof taken substantially along the line 3-3 of FIG- URE2;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary horizontal section taken substantially alongthe line 44 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of a cold shelf embodying the inventionwith portions broken away to illustrate the internal constructionthereof.

In the exemplary embodiment of the invention as disclosed in thedrawing, a refrigeration apparatus generally designated 10 is shown tocomprise a refrigeratorfreezer combination apparatus wherein a cabinet11 defines an upper, above-freezing chamber 12, and a lower,below-freezing chamber 13. The cabinet 11 defines an upper front opening14 providing access to refrigerator space 12, opening 14 beingselectively closed by an upper door 15. The cabinet further defines afront opening 16 providing access to freezing chamber 13, opening 16being selectively closed by a lower door 17. The base portion of thecabinet is arranged to house suitable conventional refrigerationequipment (not shown) for effecting the desired refrigeration of the airdelivered to chambers 12 and 13.

As shown in FIGURES l, 3 and 4, the refrigeration of chamber 12 isefiected by a delivery of the refrigerated air thereto through rear wall19 of cabinet 11 to a discharge opening 20 at the upper portion ofchamber 12, the air being returned to the cooling means through a pairof return outlets 20a in the rear wall adjacent the bottom of thechamber 12. The rear wall 19 is further provided with an outletstructure generally designated 21 spaced below opening 20 intermediatethe side walls 22 and 23 of the cabinet. A hollow cold shelf 24 extendsacross the chamber 12 between side walls 22 and 23 forwardly from theoutlet structure 21. The outlet structure 21 and coldshelf 24 areco-operatively arranged so that the cold shelf may be disposed in anyone of a plurality of vertically spaced substantially horizontalpositions including a lowermost position shown in full lines in FIGURE1, and an uppermost position shown in dotted lines in FIGURE 1. Shelfsupports 25 may be provided on each of the side walls 22 and 23, thesupports 25 including a plurality of vertically spaced pegs 26 forsupporting the cold shelf 24 in each of the vertically spaced positionsthereof and for supporting a lower conventional shelf 27 spaced belowthe cold shelf 24. Door 15 defines a rearwardly opening recess 28 inwhich is received a plurality of shelves 29 carried on side supports 30to be positioned in any one of a plurality of vertically relatedpositions generally horizontally aligned with the different positions ofcold shelf 24.

The refrigerator may be provided with additional shelves andcompartments as desired. Herein, the re-- frigerator 1Q includes a pairof conventional crispers 31 disposed in the lower portion of chamber 12,a plurality of shelves 32 extending across the freezer compartment 13, aholder 33 in the upper portion of door 15 for storing butter, cheese andthe like, a shelf 34 in door 15 below shelves 29 for storing relativelytall objects such as bottles and cartons, and shelves 35 in door 17 forstoring frozen food packages and the like.

Referring now more specifically to FIGURES 2, 3 and 4, the flow ofrefrigerated air in rear wall 19 is through a vertically extending flowpassage 36 defined by aooaeaa a rear cover 37 and a front panel 33disposed rearwardly of rear wall liner 39. As best seen in FIGURES 3 and4, the outlet structure 21 includes a grill 46 carrying a retainer 41.The upper portion of the grill 40 is secured to the liner 39 by means ofscrews 42 and nylon screw grommets 43, the screws being covered by afront panel 44 extending across the top portion of the grill 40'. Thelower end of grill 40 is secured to the liner 39 by a rearwardlyprojecting, downturned leg 45 extending through an opening 46 in theliner 39. As best seen in FIGURE 4, grill 40 includes a pair ofrearwardly turned side edge portions 47 in which pivot pin portions 48at the opposite ends of closure 49 are pivotally mounted. As shown inFIGURE 3, in the illustrated embodiment, five such closures are providedone above the other within an opening 50 defined by the grill 40 toprovide five separate openings 5041 each of which is selectively closedby a corresponding closure '49. The pivot pins 43 are disposed at theupper portion of the closure so that the closure tends to hangsubstantially straight downwardly, normally closing the opening. As bestseen in FIGURE 3, the lower end of each closure is downturned as at 51.Because of the weight of the closure acting about pivot pins 48, thisdownturned portion 51 is pivoted into sealing relation with thesubjacent closure.

Cold shelf 24 is arranged for selective association with wall 19 toextend forwardly therefrom at any one of the five different levels ofthe openings 50a. As shown in FIGURE 5, the cold shelf 24 comprises ahollow enclosure including a bottom wall 52 having a width substantiallyequal to the spacing between side walls 22 and 23 of refrigeratorcabinet 11, a removable top wall 53 generally similar to bottom wall 52,a left side Wall 54, a right side wall 55, a rear wall 56, and a frontgrill 57 having a plurality of laterally spaced openings 58. A pluralityof divider walls 59 are provided within the shelf extending rearwardlyfrom grill 57 and terminating short of rear wall 56. The dividing walls59 are aligned intermediate the openings 58 and thus define a pluralityof fore and aft passages through the cold shelf for deliveringrefrigerated air in a plurality of streams from adjacent the rear wall56 forwardly through the cold shelf and outwardly therefrom through theopenings 58. The refrigerated air is scooped from the duct 36 into thecold shelf by means of a deflector, or scoop, 60 extending rearwardlyfrom the mid portion of rear wall 56. A pair of baffles 61 are providedwithin the cold shelf directly in front of the scoop 60 to deflect theair laterally along rear wall 56 to assure a uniform distribution of therefrigerated air throughout the cold shelf. The innermost ends 5911 ofthe baffles 61 are spaced apart thereby providing an opening 62 throughwhich a portion of refrigerated air may flow forwardly through centerpassage 63.

As seen in FIGURE 3, scoop 60 extends rearwardly from rear wall 56substantially the depth of duct 36 and defines a downwardly openinginlet 64 and a forwardly opening outlet 67. The scoop serves to divertto the cold shelf 24 a portion of the refrigerated air moving upwardlythrough duct 36 to discharge opening 20. The upper rear portion 65 isrounded to cause a smooth transition in the air flow from the upwarddirection to the forward direction into the cold shelf, and furtherprovides a means for facilitating the urging of the closure door 49 in acounterclockwise direction as seen in FIG- URE 3 as the scoop isinserted into the duct.

Thus, cold shelf 24 may be installed selectively in any of thevertically spaced positions corresponding to the opening 50a, therebyproviding substantial control over the arrangement of the storage spacein the refrigerator compartment 12 as well as providing substantialcontrol of the refrigerated air delivered through the cold shelf incorrespondence with the positioning of the door shelves 29.Alternatively, the cold shelf may he completely removed from therefrigerator allowing each of the closures 49 to be retained in itsvertical, closed position. In this position, the lateral edge portions66 of the closures seal against the retainers 41 and the downturnedportions 51 of the closures seal against the subjacent elements tosealingly close the entire outlet structure 21 permitting all of therefrigerated air delivered through duct 36 to pass outwardly throughopening 20 at the top of chamber 12.

While we have shown and described one embodiment of our invention, it isto be understood that it is capable of many modifications. Changes,therefore, in the construction and arrangement may be made Withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in theappended claims.

We claim:

1. Refrigeration apparatus comprising: a wall; means within said walldefining a first flow passage for refrigerated air; a hollow shelfdefining a second flow passage, said shelf having a portion defining aninlet to said second flow passage and a portion defining an outlet fromsaid second flow passage, said shelf inlet portion being provided with adeflector for directing refrigerated air from said first flow passageinto said second flow passage; means associated with said first flowpassage means defining a plurality of openings for selectively receivingsaid shelf inlet portion for delivery of refrigerated air from saidfirst flow passage through said second flow passage; and closure meansadjacent each of said openings for selective sealing thereof, saidclosure means being movable to an open position by engagement thereofwith said shelf deflector.

2. The refrigeration apparatus of claim 1 wherein said first flowpassage is vertical, and said deflector extends substantially acrosssaid first flow passage to define by-pass passages in said first flowpassage at the lateral ends of the deflector.

3. Refrigeration apparatus comprising: an upright wall; means withinsaid wall defining a first, vertical flow passage for refrigerated air;a horizontal shelf defining a said second flow passage, said shelfhaving a deflector defining an inlet to said second flow passage and aportion defining an outlet from said second flow passage; meansassociated with said first flow passage means defining a plurality ofopenings for selectively receiving said deflector for directingrefrigerated air from said first flow passage through said second fiowpassage; and a normally vertical closure means pivotally mountedadjacent each of said openings for selective sealing thereof, saiddeflector further being arranged to pivot said closure means to an openposition upon entry of said deflector into one of said openings.

4. The refrigeration apparatus of claim 3 including means pivotallymounting said closures on said means associated with said first flowpassage means at an upper portion of said closures whereby the closureshang downwardly across said openings to close the same.

5. A refrigerator cabinet comprising: an upright wall; means within saidwall defining a first flow passage for refrigerated air; a door memberspaced forwardly of said Wall; means on said door member defining aplurality of spaces to be refrigerated; a hollow shelf defining a secondflow passage, said shelf having a rear portion defining an inlet to saidsecond flow passage and a forward portion defining an outlet from saidsecond flow passage in confronting relation to said space definingmeans; means associated with said first flow passage means defining aplurality of openings for selectively receiving said shelf inlet portionfor delivery of refrigerated air from said first flow passage throughsaid second flow passage, and from said shelf outlet selectively to anyof said spaces.

6. The refrigerator cabinet of claim 5 wherein said space defining meanscomprises a recess in said door member, an article supporting means andmeans for retaining said article supporting means in said recess in anyone of a plurality of positions.

7. A refrigerator cabinet comprising: an upright wall; means within saidwall defining a first flow passage for refrigerated air; a door memberspaced forwardly of said wall; means on said door member defining aplurality of spaces to be refrigerated; a hollow shelf defining a secondflow passage, said shelf having a rear portion defining an inlet to saidsecond flow passage and a forward portion defining an outlet from saidsecond flow passage in confronting relation to said space definingmeans; means associated with said first flow passage means defining aplurality of openings for selectively receiving said shelf inlet portionfor delivery of refrigerated air from said first flow passage throughsaid second flow passage, and from said shelf outlet selectively to anyof said spaces;

and closure means selectively closing said openings and arranged to bemoved to an open position by engagement of the rear portion of the shelftherewith.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,922,456 Powell Aug. 15, 1933 1,952,422 Copeman Mar. 27, 1934 2,487,584Patterson Nov. 8, 1943 3,027,732 Mann et al. Apr. 3, 1962 FOREIGNPATENTS 819,817 France July 19, 1937

1. REFRIGERATION APPARATUS COMPRISING: A WALL; MEANS WITHIN SAID WALLDEFINING A FIRST FLOW PASSAGE FOR REFRIGERATED AIR; A HOLLOW SHELFDEFINING A SECOND FLOW PASSAGE, SAID SHELF HAVING A PORTION DEFINING ANINLET TO SAID SECOND FLOW PASSAGE AND A PORTION DEFINING AN OUTLET FROMSAID SECOND FLOW PASSAGE, SAID SHELF INLET PORTION BEING PROVIDED WITH ADEFLECTOR FOR DIRECTING REFRIGERATED AIR FROM SAID FIRST FLOW PASSAGEINTO SAID SECOND FLOW PASSAGE; MEANS ASSOCIATED WITH SAID FIRST FLOWPASSAGE MEANS DEFINING A PLURALITY OF OPENINGS FOR SELECTIVELY RECEIVINGSAID SHELF INLET PORTION FOR DELIVERY OF REFRIGATED AIR FROM SAID FIRSTFLOW PASSAGE THROUGH SAID SECOND FLOW PASSAGE; AND CLOSURE MEANSADJACENT EACH OF SAID OPENINGS FOR SELECTIVE SEALING THEREOF, SAIDCLOSURE MEANS BEING MOVABLE TO AN OPEN POSITION BY ENGAGEMENT THEREOFWITH SAID SHELF DEFLECTOR.